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Harrison falls to Oak Glen

CADIZ — Oak Glen’s Golden Bears were just one yard and 16 seconds away from becoming Harrison Central’s second unbeaten victim in three weeks, but a monumental push enabled QB Nick Chaney to squeeze into the end zone and preserve the Bears perfect record with a thrilling 26-21 win Friday night.

Coach Ted Arneault, Jr.’s Bears boosted their record to 8-0 and continued their march toward what they hope will be an unbeaten season. After stopping the Huskies in their toughest contest yet, Oak Glen closes out the regular season in matchups with Lincoln County and Grafton.

On the other sideline, Huskies’ coach Anthony Hayes knew his team was in a battle, but just missed pulling off another upset. Two weeks ago, Harrison Central knocked of then-unbeaten St. Clairsville, but Friday’s setback dropped them to 3-5. The Huskies entertain Indian Creek on Friday followed by the season finale at Buckeye Local.

“If you are looking for a cure for high blood pressure, its kids that execute when you need them to and our kids did that tonight in the fourth quarter,” the Golden Bears coach said after the big win. “In high school football it comes down to attrition and the cramps started happening, the fatigue started happening and both team had to use a lot of players. It’s conditioning and all the extra reps you do in the pre-season and our kids were physically able to come through in the end like they were supposed to.”

As much of a nail-bitter that the entire game was, the final minute was probably the most hair-raising. After Oak Glen knotted the score at 14-14 with just 1:20 left in the third quarter on a 25-yard run by Hunter Patterson and Seth Mozingo’s PAT, the game turned into a free-for-all.

After the Golden Bears score, Harrison was forced to start on their own nine following the ensuing kickoff. Behind the running of Cale McAfee and quarterback Kobe Mitchell, the Huskies managed to escape being deep in their own territory and drove to the Bears 49 before punting the ball away. The Huskies drive featured a daring fourth down play that saw McAfee leap over the OG line for a crucial first down to keep the drive going.

Oak Glen started at its own 10 following the punt, but need just one play to regain the lead. Gage Patterson broke several tackles on his way to a 90-yard scoring run with just 6:16 remaining. A pass for the bonus points failed, but the Bears were on top by 20-14.

Oak Glen’s kickoff was returned 33 yards by Trevor Carman and the Huskies were ready to get back on the board. From the Bears’ 49, Mitchel connected for five yards to Kanyon Coleman and five more to Tucker Coultrap at the 39. James Brooks, who had scored the Huskies first touchdown on a pass interception, bolted through the OG defense on his way to 39-yard score. Jace Madzia third PAT conversion of the night gave the hosts a 21-20 lead with just 4:20 left.

Relying on the running of Chaney, Hunter Patterson and Paxton Shuman, the Bears put together an exciting 10-play drive that ended with a fourth down push from the one with Chaney scoring the game-winner with just 16 seconds on the clock.

“Our kids always give great effort,” Hays said. “I would never question our kids efforts for anything. They always give us all that they have. We are a little shorthanded and not very well in depth so we get dinged up, it’s hard to find players to put in the right spots.”

“Credit Oak Glen. They were outstanding. Their defense did an excellent job and they threw the ball well.”

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